Robert Martin Culp

 Robert Martin Culp (August 16, 1930 – March 24, 2010)

He was an actor, screenwriter, voice actor, and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage television series in which co-star Bill Cosby and he played secret agents. Prior to that, he starred in the CBS/Four Star Western series Trackdown as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman from 1957 to 1959. The 1980s brought him back to television. He starred as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero and had a recurring role as Warren Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond. Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years. Culp had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond as Warren Whelan, the father of Debra Barone and father-in-law of Ray Barone. He appeared on episodes of other television programs, including a 1961 season-three episode of Bonanza titled "Broken Ballad", as well as The Golden Girls, The Nanny, The Girls Next Door, and Wings. In I Spy Returns (1994), a nostalgic television movie, Culp and Cosby reprised their roles as Robinson and Scott for the first time since 1968. Culp wrote scripts for seven I Spy episodes, one of which he also directed. He later wrote and directed two episodes of The Greatest American Hero, including the series finale. Culp also wrote scripts for other television series, including Trackdown, a two-part episode from The Rifleman, and Cain's Hundred. Culp took frequent walks in the Runyon Canyon, a park close to his apartment in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

On the morning of March 24, 2010, he left the apartment to go for a walk. Later, a jogger found him lying unconscious on the sidewalk close to the lower entrance of the canyon. Police officers and paramedics were summoned quickly, but they were unable to revive him. Culp was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center; but all efforts at resuscitation failed, and he was pronounced dead around 11:00 a.m. He was 79 years old. Although the first reports from the police suggested that Culp died from striking his head on the ground when he fell, it was subsequently determined that he had collapsed and died of a heart attack. He is buried at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito, California.